The invention relates to an apparatus for mounting a film magazine into a camera, and more particularly, to such apparatus in which a film magazine is detachably mounted in a given location within a camera.
A conventional arrangement for detachably mounting a film magazine into a film chamber of a camera is illustrated in FIG. 1A. As shown, a film magazine 1 includes a film winding shaft 2 which may be driven for rotation by a film rewind shaft 3, provided on the part of the camera, in order to rewind a film. The rewind shaft 3 is integrally formed with a rewind knob 4. When loading the magazine 1 into a film chamber 5, the knob 4 is pulled upwardly to cause the shaft 3 to slide axially as indicated by an arrow a. Subsequently, the magazine 1 is loaded into the chamber 5, whereupon the knob 4 is depressed to return the rewind shaft 3 as indicated by an arrow b (see FIG. 1B) so that a fork formed in the free end of the rewind shaft is fitted over a tab on the winding shaft 2. A removal of the film magazine 1 takes place by a similar procedure. With this arrangement, the loading or removal of the film magazine 1 is relatively cumbersome, and the arrangement is inadequate for use in a water-proof camera since the rewind shaft 3 is disposed to extend through the camera body for axial movement. If an O-ring or the like is provided on the rewind shaft 3 to assure the water tightness, an increased torque of the shaft 3 requires a greater force for film winding. Furthermore, the external exposure of the rewind knob 4 is not favorable in respect of appearance. In particular, the provision of such knob 4 is unnecessary and undesirable in an automatic film winding camera.
An arrangement is contemplated in a water-proof camera which allows an operating member located within tthe camera to pull up the rewind shaft 3 to be disengaged from the film winding shaft 2 in the magazine 1. However, this requires an increased space within the camera in order to allow the axial movement of the rewind shaft 3, resulting in an increased height of the camera.
As an alternative, a bottom plate which defines the film chamber of the camera may be formed integrally with a rear lid, so that the opening or closing of the rear lid permits the magazine 1 to be loaded or removed. However, this arrangement involves a complex arrangement to provide the water tightness, and still the reliability achieved is less than satisfactory. In addition, the required operation to load or remove the magazine is not a simple matter.